F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers drops 1st Trailer

by Greenlemon, December 12, 2020

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Thailand’s F4 are arriving… soon!

Boys Over Flowers aka Hana Yori Dango is the all-time best-selling shojo manga series penned by Yoko Kamio between 1992 & 2004.

Set at the fictitious elite Eitoku Academy in Tokyo, Japan, the story focuses on the encounter and forthwith entanglement of a middle-class teenage girl with the famously iconic F4 - four popular, handsome young heirs of wealthy, prominent and very powerful families.

International recognition however arose from…Taiwan with their 2001 live-action adaptation of the story into a 27-episode drama set in Taipei – Meteor Garden. Highly successful, the series shot the main cast to stardom and started an upward Hana Yori Dango adaptation trend across Asia.

In 2005, Makino meets Domyoji and sparks fly all over the sky… making Mao Inoue, Jun Matsumuto & company household names in Japan. Love So Sweet… Following HYD Returns & HYD Final with the same cast, it was time to say goodbye to Tokyo and hello Seoul with perhaps the most popular adaptation of the manga worldwide thus far – Boys Over Flowers. Ku Hye-Sun, Lee Min Ho, Kim Hyun-Joong, Kim Bum & Kim Joon… Almost paradise…

Nearly a decade later in 2019, the setting moved to Shanghai & London with the Chinese adaptation of the story produced by Angie Chai, who had helmed the 2001 Meteor Garden version.

The highly anticipated GMMTV’s adaption of Kamio’s work, the 5th official live-action TV take on Boys Over Flowers has been generating a lot of buzz since it was announced. It stars Tontawan Tantivejakul (Tu) as Gorya aka Makino; Vachirawit Chiva-aree (Bright) as Thyme aka Domyoji; Jirawat Sutivanisak (Dew) as Ren aka Hanazawa Rui; Metawin Opas-iamkajorn (Win) as Kavin aka Nishikado Sojiro and Hirunkit Changkham (Nani) as M.J. aka Akira, reflecting a symbiotic blend between experienced actors & newcomers.

As every single adaptation has brought a sort of unique freshness to Hana Yori Dango on-screen - Taiwan (light & breezy), Japan (dark & moody), South Korea (classy & cute) & China (trendy & flashy), it will be interesting to see what Thailand has in store for the fans.